The Terra Sapiens Podcast

Conservation biologist Peter Soroye joins Damian to discuss the inseparable link between biodiversity loss and social inequality. Through examples from pollinator conservation to community-led projects, Peter emphasizes that protecting nature requires addressing systemic injustice. The episode offers a hopeful reminder that everyone has a role to play in building a future where ecological health a...

Multidisciplinary artist Ruby Singh joins Damian to explore the intersections of art, spirituality, myth, and decolonial practice. From Sikh teachings to West Coast Indigenous stories, Ruby shares how relationality and kinship shape his creative process, placing care and collaboration above product. The conversation dives into perfectionism, the Western art canon, and re-centering artistic value a...

Scientist Laura Pereira introduces the Nature Futures Framework, a tool designed to help communities imagine and co-create thriving futures for both people and nature. In conversation with Damian, she shares stories from her work across continents, emphasizing the value of narrative, creativity, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. This episode highlights how scientists and artists together can s...

Caroline Nepton Hotte, Innu scholar from Mashteuiatsh and professor at UQAM, shares the five “Rs” of relational methodology—Respect, Reciprocity, Relation, Relevance, and Refusal—as an ethical guide for artists working with Indigenous communities. She discusses how Indigenous female artists reclaim cultural identity, resist colonial representations, and create spaces of visual sovereignty through...

Transdisciplinary artist and cultural mediator Claudia Chan Tak discusses the generative power of tenderness, heritage, and intergenerational memory in her creative work. Together with Damian, she explores how preserving intimate family narratives becomes a radical act of cultural resistance. The conversation illuminates how art can be a vessel for healing, joy, and the complexity of diasporic ide...

Ecologist Ciara Raudsepp joins Damian to explore the role of compassion, curiosity, and storytelling in conservation. Using vivid examples from her fieldwork, including the endangered blue slug, Ciara illustrates how emotional connection can motivate action for biodiversity. The conversation challenges purely data-driven environmentalism, advocating instead for an approach grounded in empathy, rel...

Poet, artist, and educator Kama LaMackerel speaks with Damian about ancestrality as both an artistic and political practice. Drawing from their upbringing in Mauritius and their trans and queer experience, Kama reflects on reconnecting with ancestral wisdom through art, ritual, and relationship with land. They discuss decolonizing the self, resisting extractive narratives, and fostering kinship wi...

In this special opening episode, Damian is interviewed by close collaborator Mariette Raina. They unpack the vision behind Terra Sapiens, explore the Art for Impact framework, and discuss the intersections of social and ecological sustainability. Damian shares his personal journey as an artist for Impact, his motivations for shifting from critique to proposition, and why hopeful narratives and rad...